Interactive marketing system using short text messages

ABSTRACT

An interactive direct response system combines the use of short text message systems (SMS) via cell phones ( 100 ) with a database ( 102 ) and website to enable advertisers to view in real time customer responses to a direct response campaign. Customers are invited to respond to a defined advertisement on for example a billboard by responding to a single telephone number associated with the website by sending a text message linked to that particular advertisement, i.e. a single word ( 104,106 ). A computer receives and analyses the responses and sends an acknowledgement message to the customer.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to an interactive marketing and/or survey systemin particular but not limited to a marketing and/or survey systemutilising short message services (SMS) provided on mobile or cellphones.

BACKGROUND ART

Traditional marketing and survey techniques have required surveycompanies to use pollsters to contact consumers by telephone and ask aseries of questions, and then to have that data entered by the pollsteror data entry clerk into a database. Some surveys are conducted by mail,and some marketing techniques request the consumer to fill out a preprinted reply card, mail it to the advertiser, and then the results areentered by a data entry clerk and the results analysed. All this takestime for the consumer, is costly for the advertiser and in any event hasa considerable lag between the compiling of the questions and analysingthe results.

PRIOR ART

U.S. Pat. No. 5,717,866—Issued to Naftzger in 1998 relates to a methodfor comparative analysis of consumer response to product promotionswhich provide discounts during point of sale transactions. This makesuse of a keypad controlled by a cashier at a point of sale, and requiresthe cashier to send a code on the keypad to the appropriate computersystem to then receive authorisation in relation to that discount beforethen checking through the items being purchased by the customer at thediscounted price. It is limited to hardware installed at the point ofsale.

USP 2002/0132575—this patent application was filed on 31 May 2001 andwas published on 19 Sep. 2002. It relates to mobile commerce using asatellite radio broadcasting system. It is designed to help identifywhat programmes or parts of programmes are being listened by the public.

U.S. Pat. No. 7,010,263—this patent issued to Patsioks in 2006 andrelates to a system and method for distributing music and data. This isanother satellite based broadcasting system.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,960,409—this patent issued to Wexler in 1999 and relatesto a third party online accounting system. It is an internet basedsystem in which a download request signal is generated when a userclicks on a banner displayed on a web page.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,006,197—this patent issued to D'Eon et al in 1999 andrelates to a system and method for assessing effectiveness of internetmarketing campaigns. It is designed to correlate the number ofimpressions of web advertisements post impression transactional activityto measure the effectiveness of advertisements on web sites.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,286,005—issued to Cannon in 2001 and relates to a methodand apparatus for analysing data and advertising optimisation. Itrelates to a data base mining engine designed to rank the effectivenessof different advertisements.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,857,156—issued to Anderson in 1999 and relates topersonal intercommunication purchase and fulfilment system. It makes useof a satellite radio system, and a FM narrow band pager to communicatethe customers request to purchase an item using an item code, andtransmitting that to a base station to an appropriate supply house toensure that the product is supplied to the base station.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,948,061—issued to Merriman et al in 1999 and relates toa method of delivery targeting and measuring advertising over network.It provides means for compiling statistics on individual users andnetworks and the use of advertisements on the internet.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,937,392—issued to Alberts in 1999 and relates to banneradvertisement display system and method with frequency of advertisementcontrol. This web based advertising system that determines how often abanner advertisement is displayed.

This list of patents are compiled from patents cited by the USPTO andeither relate to point of sale electronic coupons as discussed in U.S.Pat. No. 5,717,866, or relate to means for analysing the effectivenessof advertisements on the internet.

All are cumbersome to implement and require the consumer to interacteither with in store hardware, or by means of computers or two waypagers.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide a viable interactivemarketing and/or survey system based on SMS messages, transmitted tomobile or cell phones or to at least provide the public with a usefulchoice.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In one aspect the invention provides an interactive marketing and/orsurvey system utilising short message systems (SMS) provided on mobileor cell phones including in combination a means of displaying anadvertisement, the advertisement inviting a participant to respond witha defined short text message via SMS on a mobile or cell phone,computerised means for comparing and matching the participants shorttext message with one or more retained reference records, wherein inoperation, if the participant's short text message matches any of theone or more records, information from the message is stored in adatabase.

Preferably the advertisement invites participants to respond to a common“reply to” telephone number.

Preferably all advertisements associated with the system use the samecommon “reply to” telephone number but each advertising campaign usesdistinct pre-allocated short text message(s) and the computerised meansanalyses and displays the incoming replies and sorts them into theirassociated campaigns.

By making use of the present and developing ability to display shorttext messages on mobile or cell phones by what is known as short messageservices (SMS), the invention provides a way of using such short textmessages as a means of advertising as well as for obtaining consumerfeed back from existing main stream advertising media inclusive oftelevision, radio, films, magazines, newspapers, bill boards and theInternet.

With the growth of the mobile or cell phone market world-wide and inparticular the acceptance and use of SMS (Short Message Service) therehas now opened up an opportunity for applications using this technology.

Typical mobile phone users carry their phones constantly as they goabout their day to day business such as when reading the morning paper,travelling to work, passing billboards, reading magazines, and watchingtelevision. If they notice an advertisement which invites them to takeaction such as to “Win a trip” or “Give us your opinion” mobile phoneusers are more likely to respond if the process required is low cost,quick and simple when compared to making a conventional phone call orposting a letter, and examples of this are shown in the detaileddescription of this invention.

Importantly the present invention embraces what is regarded as a “pull”service as it is the consumer who actually initiates the transaction sothat the implementation is considered to be “friendly”. Unsolicitedmessages are not desirable in the mobile phone industry and the presentsystem overcomes that requirement. The subject invention involves theapplication of a database having conditional filtering criteria tocorrelate a consumer's response or short text message to an advertisingclient's promotional offer. Criteria chosen in the advertiser'spromotion will be used to determine the appropriate reply message orconsumer response. In addition, by offering incentives to respond toadvertisements, consumers will provide real time feedback indicating theeffectiveness of the advertisements. The content of a particularresponse can indicate the consumer's recognition of the product or hisor her opinion of the product. By this means, valuable survey evidencecan be obtained. The content of the response can also provide thelocation and/or the publication in which the advertisement appeared. Inthe case of television or radio advertising the station whichbroadcasted the advertisement can also be identified by the particularresponse message. Multiple promotions could be run simultaneously usingthe same destination phone number as the content of the SMS will bespecific to and will identify the particular promotion. Furthermore, tomake it easier for participants, they can also store the phone numberfor later use. In the detailed examples, the competition participantsare directed to a website by notifying the particular ‘www’ web addresslocation in the SMS reply message, revenue from hits on the website canbe generated. Real time voting or survey evidence can also be collectedby this means. By using a special data base application, multiple votingby the same voter on the same mobile phone can be eliminated.Furthermore, real time graphical and statistical reports can begenerated and supplied to clients of the service via a secured Internetinterface system.

Preferably the means of displaying an advertisement can be television,magazines, newspapers, billboards films, and/or the Internet.

Preferably the advertisement can be broadcast on radio or othernon-visual means.

Preferably the computerised means for comparing and matching theparticipant's short text message response is a computer database whichis connected by a virtual private network via the Internet to the SMSprovider.

Preferably the computerised means also includes means for recording thenumber of correct and incorrect responses made by participants and thenumber of reply messages sent to the participants.

Preferably the computerised means can accommodate a number of phonenumbers and/or groups of reference records corresponding to differentadvertisement offers or surveys conducted and a record is kept of thefrequency of responses to each phone number or group of records, so thatquantitative data such as the frequency or total number of consumer orvoting response to a particular promotion or survey can be obtained.

Preferably the short text message response of a participant or consumeris a single word which can be easily compared and matched against areference list of “correct” words stored on the computer database.

Preferably the Internet website to which the participant is instructedto access is a dedicated website which centrally co-ordinates allincoming SMS messages and provides the participants with furtherinformation in order to continue or proceed to the next step of themarketing or survey system.

In another aspect the invention resides in an interactive marketingand/or survey system utilising short message systems (SMS) provided onmobile or cell phones including in combination a means of displaying anadvertisement, the advertisement inviting a participant to respond witha short text message via SMS on a mobile or cell phone, computerisedmeans for comparing and matching the participants short text messagewith one or more retained reference records, wherein in operation, ifthe participant's short text message matches any of the one or morerecords, a reply message is sent by said computerised means to theparticipant's mobile or cell phone instructing the participant toproceed to a next step, typically to access an Internet website.

Preferably the means of displaying an advertisement can be television,magazines, newspapers, billboards, films, and/or the Internet.

In the alternative the advertisement can be broadcast on radio or othernon-visual means.

Preferably the computerised means for comparing and matching theparticipant's short text message response is a computer database whichis connected by a virtual private network via the Internet to the SMSprovider.

Preferably the computerised means also includes means for recording thenumber of correct and incorrect responses made by participants and thenumber of reply messages sent to the participants.

Preferably the computerised means can accommodate a number of phonenumbers and/or groups of reference records corresponding to differentadvertisement offers or surveys conducted and a record is kept of thefrequency of responses to each phone number or group of records. By suchmeans quantitative data such as the frequency or total number ofconsumer or voting response to a particular promotion or survey can beobtained.

Preferably the short text message response of a participant or consumeris a single word which can be easily compared and matched against areference list of “correct” words stored on the computer database.

Preferably the Internet website to which the participant is instructedto access is a dedicated website which centrally co-ordinates allincoming SMS messages and provides the participants with furtherinformation in order to continue or proceed to the next step of themarketing or survey system.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order to understand the invention more fully, reference is made tothe accompanying illustrations wherein:

FIG. 1: shows an example of an advertisement requiring an SMS textedresponse according to Example 1.

FIG. 2: shows a flow diagram of the components of the inventionaccording to Example 1.

FIGS. 3 and 4: show examples of statistical analyses in the form of barcharts and frequency distribution graphs of the invention in operation.

FIG. 5: shows a worksheet of the invention in operation, and

FIG. 6: shows a log of calls made in testing the invention.

FIG. 7: shows a scheme of an operational layout of the inventionaccording to Example 2 and Example 3 of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Example 1

FIG. 1 of Example 1 shows an example of an advertisement 10 inviting aparticipant to call a telephone number and to key in an appropriatealphanumeric response 12, and in this case, the word “PISA”.

FIG. 2 shows a flow diagram or schema outlining the various componentsof the invention according to Example 1. In response to an advertisementsuch as that as shown in FIG. 1, a participant sends a message on amobile or cell phone 14 and enters the appropriate alphanumeric responseor short texted message 16. The response is specific to a particularpromotion and the location or where the advertisement was broadcastedfrom 18 or displayed can be recorded by the computer database 20 whichcompares and matches the participant's response to a reference listretained in the computer database. If there is a correct match, such asthe word “PISA” in the abovementioned example, a short message system(SMS) text reply 22 is sent to the participant's mobile or cell phoneinstructing the successful participant to access a specific website onthe Internet. The participant can then obtain further details on how toprogress in the competition or advertising promotion or survey from thereferred website. It is envisaged that with the rapid development ininformation technology and particularly that concerning mobile and cellphones with Internet access, the participants can then access thewebsite directly from their mobile or cell phones without the need of apersonal or laptop computer.

Referring now to FIG. 3 there shown a bar chart 30 of the number ofcalls made to a particular advertisement advertised by three televisionstations and on two bill boards 32. By analysing the bar chart, theeffectiveness of the mode of advertising can be gauged from the y-axis,which shows the frequency of calls made to the advertisement. Along thex-axis is shown the duration of the survey, which in this case was overa period of four weeks with the results of each week shown. It will beobvious to the skilled addressee that the frequency of calls made in thelater weeks 34, 36 should be greater than those made in the earlierweeks 38, 40 because more consumers would be exposed to theadvertisement over time.

FIG. 4 shows the number of calls made on the y-axis compared to the timeof day along the x-axis at which the call is made for an advertisementwhich was displayed on the three television stations and two bill boards42 as mentioned previously for FIG. 3.

As far as the advertisement being broadcast by the three televisionstations from FIG. 4 it can be concluded that the 8 pm slot 44 obtainedthe most responses as compared to when the advertisement was shown at 12pm 46 or 2 pm 48 in the afternoon wherein there would have been limitedviewing. In contrast responses to the advertisement being displayed onbillboards peaked at 5 pm 50 and 7 pm 52 respectively which indicatesthat effectively this type of advertisement has the greatest exposurewhen consumers are leaving their work places and possibly as they aredriving home.

Referring now to FIG. 5 which shows a work sheet 60 wherein the variouscompetitions or advertising clients are shown at the top of the columns62, 64. The appropriate short text message responses 66, 68 are shownunder each column together with the number of matches 70, 72 of thecorrect response as well as the number of entries recorded 82, 84. If acorrect match is made between the recorded reference list and theparticipant's response, a text message 80 inviting the participant toaccess a website is displayed on the participant's mobile or cell phone(not shown). The number of entries received 82, 84 is recorded whichenables a breakdown of the frequency or popularity of the particularcompetition or survey to be analysed.

FIG. 6 shows a log of calls received 90 requiring a particular response92 and the times 94 and dates 95 at which the calls were made and thephone numbers 96 which were received and replied to. The particularresponse and identification of the client are shown 98. By analysingsuch a log the popularity or frequency of calls made in response to aparticular advertisement or survey question can also be analysed.

Example 2

Product Promotion Example

Referring to FIG. 7 there is shown an advertisement by the client (“1”)and (“1 a”), for example, printed in 2 morning papers (not shown)promoting a new model of running shoe called “Pacer Rockets”.

Reader 1 reads the advertisement in paper 1 (not shown) and is invitedto enter a draw to win a free pair of the shoes by sending an SMScontaining the word “PACER” to number 345678.

Reader 2 reads the advertisement in paper 2 (not shown) and is invitedto enter a draw to win a free pair of the shoes by sending an SMScontaining the word “ROCKET” to number 345678.

-   -   1. Reader 1 and Reader 2 reach for their mobile phones 100 and        type in the word “PACER” and “ROCKET” depending on which paper        they are reading. In both cases they send this message to        345678.    -   2. The messages are received at the Promotion gateway 102 of the        computer database. The messages contain the mobile number, date        sent, time sent, and the message text.    -   3. The message containing the word “PACER” is processed by a        client's application called, “paper 1”, 104 searching for the        word “PACER”. Likewise, the message containing the word “ROCKET”        is processed by a client's application called, “paper 2” 106        searching for the word “ROCKET”.    -   4. In this case the same client owns both applications. Both        applications in this example simply respond with the same        message 108 advising that the entry into the prize draw has been        accepted and an invitation is made to visit a website, e.g.        “Thank you for entering our PACER ROCKETS prize draw. We will        contact you on this number if you are the winner. Visit        www.pacerrockets.com for more details.”    -   The transaction is now complete.

Numerous client applications can exist so long as the incoming messagefrom the consumer is always unique.

By running the same advertisement in two newspapers but by varying theword content of the message required to enter the draw the client canobtain answers to the following questions.

-   -   How effective was the advertisement in paper 1 compared to paper        2?    -   What time did the consumers read the advertisement?    -   What date did the consumers read the advertisement?    -   Did this advertisement result in a Website visit? The Website        can determine this by direct association with the advertisement.

Example 3

Vote or Opinion Poll Example

Referring also to FIG. 7, a television station runs a controversial newsstory and is seeking public opinion of a new law that would allow gunsin schools.

Viewers are invited to join a real time survey where they can send anSMS indicating that they either approve of the new law by sending amessage “guns yes” 110. Or if they disapprove they can send the message“guns no” 112. The following steps then ensue:

-   -   1. Concerned viewers reach for their mobile phones 100 and send        their vote message to number 12345. All voters use this number        regardless of the client television station.    -   2. The messages are received at the Polling gateway 102 of the        computer database and routed to one or two applications 110,        112.    -   3. In the case of a “YES” vote a message is returned to the        voter for example, “Your vote in favour of guns in schools has        been accepted. So far 10% of voter's agree with you. Stay tuned        for the final results or visit www.tvnewsco.com.”    -   4. In the case of a “NO” vote a message is returned to the voter        for example, “Your vote against allowing guns in schools has        been accepted. So far 90% of voter's agree with you. Stay tuned        for the final results or visit www.tvnewsco.com.”

The transaction is now complete.

The TV station has a real time, private connection to a speciallyallocated page on the polling gateway website. The results of themessages are graphically and statistically displayed here in real timeindicating the number of “yes” and “no” votes. The TV station can eithershow this page directly or generate a customised display based on thisinformation.

ADVANTAGES

Cost Advantage of SMS

Existing methods of customer feedback include “900” numbers that attracttypically high usage rates to the participant. Rates of a few dollarsper minute are not uncommon. This can cause consumer reluctanceparticularly when younger family members can cause huge phone bills toaccumulate. The cost of an SMS typically is half that of posting aletter and in some cases is free. Up to 160 characters of text can besent using a standard SMS.

Time Advantage of SMS

The use of “physical” mail is decreasing as people move to electronicalternatives such as email. At present, email is still emerging in themobile phone market so it does not have the convenience factor of SMS.Physical mail requires a larger effort on behalf of the consumer andreplies are not immediate.

Interactive Advantage of SMS

When an SMS is sent from a mobile phone the overall delivery time istypically a few seconds. Third party applications that are connected tothe SMS gateway should be able to respond in a similar time frame.Intelligent applications can create a 2-way dialog between the consumerand client application in order to request further consumer informationor simply to inform the consumer.

Transaction Possibilities

The SMS reply message can inform the consumer that their message hasbeen processed. It may also contain invitations to send a furthermessage to complete the transaction. Invitations to visit Web sitesbelonging to or linking the promoter client may be made. In the case ofan opinion poll or vote system indications may be made of the pollprogress such as the number of “YES” or “NO” votes received to date.

Existing Promotion Structures

Existing methods of obtaining customer feedback require a uniquedestination that is selected by the consumer and that shows the processfor them.

With voice based phone applications, this may necessitate the dialing ofa unique phone number or dialing a number and selecting a destination bya menu driven process, e.g. Press 1 for “Shoes” or Press 2 for“computers”.

With physical mail or email responses an address is required and often asub address or department has to be indicated, e.g. marketing promotionsattn Shoes competition.

SMS Multi Client

By using a common number for SMS delivery, messages can be automaticallyrouted to multiple clients based on the content of the message. Thiseliminates the need for a unique address/phone number for every clientusing this system.

By careful selection of the likely or required responses from all theclient's customers' messages can be routed to the required client'sapplication for processing and to be responded to.

Every message contains the mobile number of the originating message.This becomes the reply path for the client's application allowing atwo-way transaction to occur.

Privacy Advantage of SMS

No subscription is required by the mobile user making it is availablefor use by any SMS capable phone. The only requirement is that themobile number is forwarded with the message. One of the biggest fears ofpotential participants of such SMS transactions is that it may result inun-solicited “junk” messages as occurs with email. It is vital for thesuccess of this system that it remains what the industry refers to as a“pull” service. This means that the participant only gets a message as aresult of a message sent by them. The only variation would benotification of a prize that may occur several days or months after theoriginal transaction. To help maintain privacy for consumers theoperator of this system must retain ownership of all messages and neverdivulge mobile numbers to its clients. Only statistical details shouldbe passed to the client's prize-winner contact numbers.

Consumers do not need to pass on their identity further than theirmobile number, which is an inherent feature of SMS. This will be a keyfeature that many consumers will prefer. The only requirement forpersonal details to be divulged would be in the case of prize deliveryetc.

Branding and Association of the SMS Destination Number

To speed up the transaction and likelihood of response it would be idealthat the user already has the number stored in their mobile phone. Thiswould allow consumers to concentrate on the transaction “keyword” ratherthan trying to remember the phone number. This is particularly useful inthe case of Billboard advertising where time is limited. A custom logo(perhaps one for promotions and one for voting) would be used toassociate the promotion with an SMS promotion that the consumer had usedbefore. Because they already understand the process they are more likelyto respond.

VARIATIONS

Finally it will be appreciated that various other alterations andmodifications may be made to the foregoing without departing from thescope of this invention as claimed.

1. An interactive system utilizing short text messages transmitted byShort Message Service (SMS), the interactive system comprising: (a) aplurality of separate advertisements each advertising by non-SMS meansan identical product or service and each inviting one or moreparticipants to respond via a cell phone to a predetermined phone numbercommon to all of the advertisements, wherein each advertisement requeststhe one or more participants to respond to the advertisement by textingto the predetermined phone number a different predetermined SMS shorttext message having distinct content that identifies the predeterminedSMS short text message as being a response to one of the advertisementsand not the other advertisements; and (b) a computer system forreceiving a short text message sent from the one or more participantsvia SMS to the predetermined phone number in response to the pluralityof advertisements, the computer system adapted to identify the receivedshort text message as being in response to a particular one of theadvertisements by searching a content of the received short text messageand identifying at least a portion of the distinct content associatedwith at least one of the advertisements in the content of the receivedshort text message, and wherein the computer system is constructed andarranged to send an automated short text message reply via SMS to thecell phone in response to receiving the received short text message. 2.The interactive system of claim 1, wherein the automated short textmessage reply directs a recipient to access a preselected website. 3.The interactive system of claim 1, wherein the computer system isadapted to select from a plurality of different preselected replymessages to send as the automated short text message reply based on thedistinct content identified in the received short text message.
 4. Theinteractive system of claim 1, wherein the computer system is adapted torecord information obtained from the received short text message in adatabase, the recorded information including at least a phone numberassociated with the cell phone.
 5. The interactive system of claim 1,wherein the computer system is adapted to compare the received shorttext message with one or more reference records and identify thereceived short text message as being associated with a particularadvertising campaign selected from a plurality of advertising campaignsdepending upon which of the one or more reference records the receivedshort text message at least partially matches.
 6. An interactive systemutilizing Short Message Service (SMS) short text messages, theinteractive system comprising: (a) a first advertisement and a secondadvertisement each advertising an identical product or service vianon-SMS based media, wherein each advertisement invites one or moreparticipants to respond via a cell phone to a single predetermined phonenumber, wherein each advertisement includes distinct content not presentin the other advertisement, and wherein each advertisement includesinstructions requesting the one or more participants to respond to theadvertisement by sending a predetermined SMS short text message to thesingle predetermined phone number; and (b) a computer system forreceiving a short text message sent from the one or more participants bySMS to the predetermined phone number, the computer system adapted toidentify the received short text message as being in response to eitherthe first advertisement or the second advertisement and not the otheradvertisement by searching a content of the received short text messageand locating at least a portion of the distinct content associated withthe first or second advertisement which the responder is responding toin the content of the received short text message.
 7. The system ofclaim 6, wherein the distinct content of the first advertisementindicates that the first advertisement was presented in a firstpredetermined area and wherein the distinct content of the secondadvertisement indicates that the second advertisement was presented in asecond predetermined area different than the first predetermined area inwhich the first advertisement was presented.
 8. The system of claim 6,wherein the distinct content of the first advertisement indicates thatthe first advertisement was presented during a first predetermined timeslot and wherein the distinct content of the second advertisementindicates that the second advertisement was presented during a secondpredetermined time slot different than the first predetermined time slotin which the first advertisement was presented.
 9. The system of claim6, wherein the distinct content of the first advertisement indicatesthat the first advertisement was presented by a first advertising entityand wherein the distinct content of the second advertisement indicatesthat the second advertisement was presented by a second advertisingentity separate from the first advertising entity.
 10. The system ofclaim 6, wherein the product or service is a polling service requestinga response to a survey question.
 11. The system of claim 6, wherein thefirst advertisement is of a first type of media and the secondadvertisement is of a second type of media different than the first typeof media.
 12. The system of claim 11, wherein the first and second typesof media are selected from a group consisting of television, radio,printed material, billboard, film, and internet.
 13. The system of claim6, wherein the computer system is constructed and arranged toautomatically send a response via SMS to the received short text messagecontaining additional information related to the product or service. 14.The system of claim 13, wherein the response includes instructions toaccess an internet website related to the product or service.
 15. Thesystem of claim 13, wherein the product or service is a polling serviceand the predetermined short text message includes an answer to a surveyquestion, and wherein the computer system is adapted to automaticallyrecord a number of responses made by the one or more participants havinga first predetermined answer and also record a number of responses madeby the one or more participants having a second predetermined answer,and wherein the automatically sent response includes an indication ofwhether more respondents have answered the survey question with thefirst predetermined answer or the second predetermined answer.
 16. Thesystem of claim 6, further comprising a third advertisement advertisingvia non-SMS based media a different product or service than advertisedby the first and second advertisements, wherein the third advertisementinvites one or more participants to respond via a cell phone to thesingle predetermined phone number, wherein the third advertisementincludes distinct content not present in the first or secondadvertisements, and wherein the computer system is adapted to identifythe received short text message as being in response to either thefirst, second, or third advertisement and not the other advertisementsby searching the content of the received short text message and locatingat least a portion of the distinct content associated with the first,second, or third advertisement which the responder is responding to inthe content of the received short text message.
 17. The system of claim16, wherein the first and second advertisements are sponsored by a firstentity and the third advertisement is sponsored by a second entityseparate from the first entity, wherein the computer system is adaptedto automatically route the received short text message received via SMSto either the first entity or the second entity based on whether theportion of the distinct content identified by the computer system in thecontent of the received short text message is associated with the first,second, or third advertisement.
 18. The system of claim 6, wherein thedistinct content is a single word or a single string of characters. 19.The system of claim 6, wherein the first advertisement and secondadvertisement each invite the one or more participants to enter a drawto win a prize by responding to the first or second advertisement bytexting via SMS the predetermined short text message to thepredetermined phone number.
 20. A method of operating an interactivesystem utilizing Short Message Service (SMS) text messages, the methodcomprising: (a) presenting, by at least one of visual and non-visualmeans, at least a first advertisement and a second advertisement, eachadvertising an identical product or service by non-SMS means, whereinthe first and second advertisements each include a unique code notpresent in the other advertisement, and wherein each advertisementinvites one or more participants to respond to the advertisement bysending a predetermined SMS short text message via a cell phone to asingle predetermined phone number; (b) providing a database stored on acomputer, the database containing the first code and the second code,the database correlating the first and second codes to the first andsecond advertisements, respectively; (c) receiving, by an SMS gateway,via SMS, a short text message sent from the one or more participants tothe predetermined phone number in response to the first or secondadvertisement; (d) searching, by computer, a content of the receivedshort text message and identifying at least a portion of the unique codeassociated with the first or second advertisement which the responder isresponding to in the content of the received short text message; and (e)classifying, by computer, the received short text message as being inresponse to either the first or the second advertisement and not theother advertisement depending on whether the portion of the unique codeidentified is associated with the first or second advertisement.
 21. Themethod of claim 20, further comprising presenting the firstadvertisement at a first time slot and presenting the secondadvertisement at a second time slot later than the first time slot anddetermining a quantity of responses received at the predetermined phonenumber in response to the first advertisement and determining a quantityof responses received at the predetermined phone number in response tothe second advertisement.
 22. The method of claim 21, further comprisingpresenting the first and second advertisements at different times in asingle day.
 23. The method of claim 20, further comprising presentingthe first advertisement at a first location and presenting the secondadvertisement at a second location located remotely of the firstlocation and determining a quantity of responses received at thepredetermined phone number in response to the first advertisement anddetermining a quantity of responses received at the predetermined phonenumber in response to the second advertisement.
 24. The method of claim20, further comprising having a first entity present the firstadvertisement by non-SMS means and having a second entity present thesecond advertisement by non-SMS means and determining a quantity ofresponses received via SMS at the predetermined phone number in responseto the first advertisement and determining a quantity of responsesreceived via SMS at the predetermined phone number in response to thesecond advertisement.
 25. The method of claim 20, wherein the product orservice is a polling service requesting a survey response.
 26. Themethod of claim 20, further comprising presenting the firstadvertisement by a first type of media and presenting the secondadvertisement by a second type of media different than the first type ofmedia.
 27. The method of claim 26, wherein the first and second types ofmedia are selected from a group consisting of television, radio, printmedia, billboard, film, and internet.
 28. The method of claim 20,further comprising automatically sending a response to the receivedshort text message via SMS containing additional information related tothe product or service.
 29. The method of claim 28, wherein the responseincludes instructions to access an internet website related to theproduct or service.
 30. The method of claim 20, wherein the unique codeassociated with the first advertisement is used to identify that thefirst advertisement was presented in a different geographic locationthan the second advertisement.
 31. The method of claim 20, furthercomprising using the unique code associated with the first advertisementto indicate that the first advertisement was presented at a differenttime than the second advertisement.
 32. The method of claim 20, furthercomprising presenting the first advertisement on a first piece of printmedia, presenting the second advertisement on a second piece of printmedia separate from the first piece of print media, and using the uniquecode associated with the first advertisement to indicate that the firstadvertisement was presented on the first piece of print media and not onthe second piece of print media.
 33. The method of claim 20, furthercomprising using the unique code associated with the first advertisementto indicate that the first advertisement was presented by apredetermined type of media, at a predetermined time, at a predeterminedlocation, or by a predetermined entity.
 34. The method of claim 20,further comprising using the first and second advertisements to invitethe one or more participants to enter a draw to win a prize byresponding to the first or second advertisement by texting thepredetermined short text message to the predetermined phone number. 35.An interactive system utilizing short text messages transmitted viaShort Message Service (SMS), the interactive system comprising: (a) atleast a first advertisement and a second advertisement each concurrentlyadvertising via non-SMS means an identical product or service, whereineach advertisement invites one or more participants to respond via acell phone to a single predetermined phone number, wherein eachadvertisement includes instructions requesting the one or moreparticipants to respond with a different predetermined SMS short textmessage having distinct content that distinctly identifies thepredetermined SMS short text message as being a response to either thefirst advertisement or the second advertisement and not the otheradvertisement; and (b) a computer system for receiving a short textmessage sent via SMS from the one or more participants to the singlepredetermined phone number in response to the first and secondadvertisements, the computer system adapted to identify the receivedshort text message as being in response to either the firstadvertisement or the second advertisement and not the otheradvertisement by searching a content of the received short text messageand identifying at least a portion of the distinct content associatedwith the first or second advertisement which the responder is respondingto in the content of the received short text message.
 36. A method ofoperating an interactive system which utilizes Short Message Service(SMS), the method comprising: (a) presenting, by at least one of visualand non-visual means, multiple advertisements each advertising anidentical product or service by non-SMS means, each advertisementinviting participants to send via SMS a text message containing arespective one of multiple predetermined codes via a cell phone to thesame predetermined phone number, wherein at least one of thepredetermined codes is different from other of the predetermined codesassociated with other of the multiple advertisements; (b) providing adatabase stored on a computer, the database containing the multiplepredetermined codes, the database correlating the multiple predeterminedcodes to respective ones of the multiple advertisements; (c) receiving,by an SMS gateway, via SMS, the short text messages sent by theparticipants to the predetermined phone number in response to themultiple advertisements; (d) searching, by computer, a content of eachof the received text messages for the multiple predetermined codes; and(e) classifying, by computer, each of the received text messages asbeing in response to a respective one of the multiple advertisementsbased on the correlation between the predetermined code contained insaid text message and the respective one of the multiple advertisements.37. A method of operating an interactive system utilizing Short MessageService (SMS) text messages, the method comprising: (a) presenting, byat least one of visual and non-visual means, a plurality of differentadvertisements, each of the advertisements inviting participants to sendan SMS short text message to single predetermined SMS-capable phonenumber, each of the different advertisements identifying as the SMSshort text message a respective one of multiple codes, each of themultiple codes being distinguishable from other of the multiple codes bya computer; (b) storing information in a computer database that definesa correlation between the multiple codes and the differentadvertisements, respectively; (c) receiving, by an SMS gateway, via SMS,the short text messages sent by the participants to the predeterminedSMS-capable phone number, in response to one of the differentadvertisements; (d) searching, by computer, content of each of thereceived short text messages and identifying thecomputer-distinguishable code contained in said received short textmessage; and (e) classifying, by computer, the received short textmessages to produce a set of classified results in terms of thedifferent advertisements based on the correlation between the respectivecomputer-distinguishable codes and the different advertisements.
 38. Themethod of claim 37, wherein the classified results are displayed in realtime.